Meet 'Dawg.' He owes me big time.

Look into those eyes. You can almost see the story hidden deep within. It was the wee hours of a 2009 summer morning, 2:30 a.m. to be exact. Our phone rang. My wife answered. It was her dad calling to tell us that someone was swimming in the pool. He was really panicking and afraid. I went right over to check on things. (We live across the woods from them so that my wife can visit them daily and help when their in-home caregiver leaves for the day.)

As I cautiously drove over, I found my father-in-law standing on his gazebo, holding a flashlight emitting a light no brighter than a glowing candlewick. He was standing there in his pajamas looking like Albert Einstein, with his white and wild hair, yelling toward the pool with growls and shouts of "I'm going to shoot!" LOL, has he ever pulled the trigger on a gun in his entire life??? This is the retired college professor/musician who has been at his craft, professionally, since he was 15 years old. He brags to this day about never having another job in is entire life other than being a musician. So, there he was...in all his dreadful, fearsome glory. Got the image?

I walked toward the pool, a bit spooked myself at this point, as David said to me, "Do you hear them, Mike? Do you hear? I heard them talking. There's somone swimming in the pool!" And....yes....I DID hear splashing. I had no choice but to make myself walk up to the edge to see who it was and what was going on. Strange thing was that I clearly heard what sounded like an adult feverishly swimming around, but there were no other sounds...no talking, breathing, etc.

I shined my light over into the edge of the pool to see...You-Know-Who at the top of this page. He had fallen, or jumped...we'll never know, into the pool and could not get out. He looked at me with such fear in his eyes. He was exhausted. He was soon to drown. Who knows how long he had been in there.

I slowly reached out toward him to assure myself that he wouldn't bite. I grabbed both of his front legs and pulled him out. He was instantly my best friend.

Dawg, as he was named by Dr. Livingston, my 85 year old father-in-law, now lives at their home and he sleeps on a couch that they placed in their garage for him to be comfortable. He has his on electric heater, sometimes rides on the golf cart and now has this look on his face most of the time.

Oh, I guess I should show you a picture of 'Albert' (hair tamed)...here he is with the whole family!